Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Spanish Ladies, Cat Updates, Cold Shoulder, a Wee Shop, and Capsule Review and Reveal

This has been (and continues to be) a wonderfully relaxing weekend! 

Another wear of the Spanish ladies dress is always a good way to start things off.

• Dress - Lirub; last worn here in April with orange
• Shoes - Franco Sarto, thrifted; last seen here (3rd outfit) with purple and a PJ top

It's the perfect "presto-change-o" at the Ulty field. Easy to change into my workout clothes.

 And then I look presentable in public for brunch afterwards.

L is for lurker - L getting his gear on

 Although it was a sunny day, it's still slightly chilly. This calls for leather!

The stuff:

Comfy little green shoes. Bows!

• Earrings - vintage expo

Vizzini has been giving us a rough time this week, waking me up at all hours. We expect at any moment that he will break through the sheet and go back into the bed.

"How dare you disturb my slumber, Woman!" 

He was loafing in L's ties when we left.

On Friday night, he was giving us the cold shoulder.

"You are both dead to me."

Listening to us, although he won't look at us.

"I hear everything you say."

But by the time we got back from lunch, he was his usual self again (the 25% good cat part).

"I was all warm and happy...until you got home."

Something caught his attention.

"Gads! What is this?"

He spotted his prey.

"There will be no escape."

And *slurp*...

"Gotcha!" 

It was a dead bug. Good job, Officer. Please eat the moths that attack my cashmere.

Saturday night was our dear friend Yvonne's "surprise" birthday. Of course I dressed up!

Blurry face in the fading light.

• Dress - Club Monaco, thrifted; last seen here (2nd outfit) to see a play with my female family members in November 2010
• Shoes - Chie Mihara; last worn here in December 2015 with a rack-tastic red dress
• Leopard jacket (below): Forever 21, thrifted

Isn't it an amazing dress on? Refresh your memory here of what it looks like on the hanger: not much! It's dark green heavy satin (people were stroking me all night!).

I'm shocked and a bit ashamed that I haven't worn this dress in 5.5 years! I had kind of forgotten about it, but then when I did my backwards hanger trick last fall/winter, it revealed itself again. Although I didn't wear it during that season, I put it back in the closet and pledged to wear it this year. And I did!

I have previously only worn it twice - once at the link above and for the first time here in February 2010, noting that I paid $40 for it. I am happy to have gotten another wear out of it, and it'll stay in my closet as a great classic piece that I can wear again at some point.

I had crazy-good reactions from my friends and all the people at the party about this dress. I love how it is deliberately cut to hang off one shoulder. So sexy!

L lurking again - cab's nearly here.

All dolled up and ready to celebrate Yvonne!

We had a great time and stumbled in the door around 2am.

The stuff:

I had enough presence of mind to take these pictures at 2am and then put everything away, out of Vizzinis's reach!

Funky bling:

The cuff went with my shoes, and I did magenta accessories to go with my fading hair (and I did purple-toned make-up as well).

• Cuff - handmade, bought in Nashville
• Earrings - consignment, Vancouver
• Amber ring - late 90s
• Gold ring - Frances Jewellers, early 60s, Dad's

Today, I had a nice long sleep-in, then strolled to town for groceries.

A hot but breezy day today, so let's bust out this new-to-me dress for it's first wear.

• Dress - Liberty Art Fabrics, thrifted; purchased here for $8.00
• Shoes - Chie Mihara; last seen here in September 2015 with purple and yellow
• Blazer (below) - Le Chateau, consignment; last worn here almost exactly a year ago in April 2015 with oranges

"Just walkin' through, you're not taking a picture or anything, are you?"

Vizzini always has to barge in.

"Greetings to all my fans."

I like this dress, but don't love this dress. I'll probably hang onto it for another wear during hot weather, but I don't see it becoming a staple like the Spanish ladies dress.

The stuff:

Another pair of shoes that are getting worn out. I've worn these a lot over the years.

• Belt - Esprit, thrifted
• Earrings - Dior

I had a nice browse in the WIN Warehouse store. I did really well with non-boutique items! The only boutique (marked-up) item I bought was this weather-treated raincoat.

While I have enjoyed my orange satin raincoat (this guy), It's never been a great fit in the shoulders/chestal region, and I've been watching out for a new one for about a year.

This raincoat is a light blue with black and purple plaid. I'll still be really visible for traffic, but I like the overall pattern as a nice change from bright orange. Plus, it goes with my hair!

All red-starred tags were 25% off, so this was $17.21 with the discount. Blowing the bank over here! This raincoat is by Parkhurst.

I've been attracted to this boxy shape of top for about 6 months now. Like how it goes with a skinny pant or skirt, as well as a pouffy skirt (my current favourite shape for skirts).

I wasn't completely sold on the colours, but that pale pink, pale mint and soft beige (barely visible) on the white background could be useful for summer.

And it was only $5.00.

For that price, I don't mind trying out something I'm not sure about. This is by Noul, which is apparently a boutique store on Granville Street in Vancouver. Who knew? I'm sure it sold for more than $5.00. Score!

Ah, another pouffy skirt. This comes as a shocker, I'm sure.

But this one's green! and it has pockets!

And it's by Vero Moda, but was $4.50 after the 25% discount.

That's good, right?

I wasn't 100% on this pink skirt either, but I don't have a pink skirt in this shade.

This is quite a casual cut, with a drawstring waist.

It's by Shine, which was another Vancouver boutique. According to their FB page, they closed in 2014.

It was only $6.00, so I'm fine with wearing it a couple of times and moving it along to someone else if it doesn't work for me.

I like that it was union made in Canada! I found this brief blurb here about the Aero Garment Ltd. clothing factory in Vancouver.

Lyocell/Tencel is a fabric made from wood pulp. This skirt is fully washable and feels like a washed silk, very soft.

More pink! I found this in the nightwear section, but I don't think it's meant to be slept in.

I thought it was a dress/tunic, although a quick image search on the brand (Marulong) says I'm wrong. See the little loops sticking out at the sides? It had a string belt at one point.

New with tags on, but still only $5.00. I love the print of the Chinese lady with the parrot (that brown thing in the upper right corner).

I plan to try to wear it at least once as a dress or tunic!

This was the thing that made me gasp, hand over my money and leave the store quickly before they realized their mistake and marked it up.

I know! It looks like nothing on the hanger, but this is the most beautiful dress on. The cut is very skimming down the body, and the hem flares out and swooshes when you walk. It even has a bit of a train at the back.

It's by Ralph Lauren...for $8.00.

Seriously. I just found my Christmas dress! A search on this reveals that it is "Ralph Lauren Blue Label Caralinda dress" and it was last seen for sale at Saks Fifth Avenue for $598.00. Check out a video here (linking 'cause I love) to see a model walking in it, to give you a better idea of the movement and shape of the dress. I fill it out better than her, and I'd wear better shoes!

Look at that rich orange!

And it's lined in 100% silk! It is stunning on. How can I wait until Christmas??

Phew! That was some fun shopping, but I also enjoy shopping my closet. Time to review the April capsule. Here's what's left on the top shelf. You can compare with the original April selection here.

• 8 pairs of shoes
• 3 sweaters

Shoes: Four of the original shoes remain from my original line-up: the baby blue Fluevogs, the orange Fluevogs, the leopard and black shoes, and the chartreuse sandals. I got rid of both of the other shoes (black sandals and beaded flats). The black sandals were painful, and the beaded flats didn't fit very well. I also swapped other shoes in and out at will, but this is what was left at the end of the month.

Sweaters: I got rid of the mustard yellow sweater (pilly, too drapey, not flattering), and swapped the cream Lacoste sweater for this leopard one.

The rest of it:

• 2 jackets
• 2 dresses 
• 2 blouses
• 5 skirts
• 2 trousers

Jackets: I started out with 4 jackets - the only ones that survived were the long black jacket and the chartreuse velvet one (which I swapped for the cropped black jacket). The red blazer and the houndtooth jacket were ousted - I gave the red blazer to my coworker Nicole immediately.

Dresses: I started with 4 dresses, swapped in the above white collar/cuffed one, but the floral H&M dress, the lemon yellow t-shirt dress (worn once as a top) and the blue denim-y dress were all removed. Gonzo. Although I still like the H&M one, it's too big on me now. Time to go live with someone else.

Tops/blouses: I started with 4 blouses and only one of them survived: the baby blue ruffly vintage one (which is in the wash, so not shown above). The magenta skirt was removed almost immediately (button-downs and me...eee...), and while I swapped in another floral blouse and the triangle vintage-y (worn on Friday with my jeans), tops overall let me down. That's why I like paying $5.00 for them.

Skirts: I started with 6 skirts. The aqua suede Anthro skirt was removed to be brought out again in colder weather (too hot for that crocking!). I did a swap for the too-big black leather skirt for the new-to-me black zippered skirt, removed the Boss Orange caramel silk skirt (not feeling it), and the houndstooth plaid also went away, to be replaced by the black/white textured one above. The two purple skirts were great.

Trousers: Same two, both awesome.

I am enjoying the looser structure of these capsules, and they are helping me see the Wardrobe Slackers hiding out in my closet. So, since I'm still having fun, let's do a May capsule. I'm feeling a lot of pink so that's going to be a dominant colour.

Sweaters and shoes.

• 2 sweaters: one pink cashmere sweater and one aqua cardigan. 
• 7 pairs of shoes: a variety of styles, heels and colours. 

Hung-up stuff: 

• 3 pairs of pants - new magenta skinnies, my beloved red polka dot pants, and Danger Pants (look out!)
• 7 blouses (oops, left a dress in there) - the pajama blouse returns (I only wore it once last month, so I'll probably wear it a couple more times then swap it for something else). Some fun pieces, including that copper leather top (excited!).

 Dresses, jackets and skirts:

• 4 dresses (including the white collar/cuffed one in the previous picture) - a fancy yellow dress, and a couple of pink dresses
• 2 jackets - both new-to-me, but I intend to wear more of my blazers as outerwear over the next month, and not counting them as part of the capsule. They're a good layering piece in our air-conditioned office too. 
• 8 skirts - I do love my skirts. Lots of new-to-me with a couple of seasoned favourites. 

Okay, well, that was a lot of work! I'm linking up to:

• "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style
• "52 pick me up" at Anne's SpyGirl

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!